10 Mister Rogers Quotes to Give You Hope for the World Again
It’s easy to feel like the fight isn’t worth fighting, or that people are all terrible, so I thought I’d compile a list of Mister Rogers quotes from You Are Special: Neighborly Wit And Wisdom From Mister Rogers and The World According to Mr. Rogers (in honor of his new documentary) to remind us all that good people do exist and that kindness matters.
“Anything that’s human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable. When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary. The people we trust with that important talk can help us know that we are not alone.”
This is especially true for little kids. Little kids have BIG feelings, and they need to talk about them. We need to let little kids know it is okay to cry and talk about their feelings, and we as adults need to know that it is okay to cry. So much of our lives are spent trying to hide or push down our feelings. Why are feelings bad? Why don’t we talk about them and work through them? You don’t and shouldn’t have to deal with everything by yourself.
“I hope you’re proud of yourself for the times you’ve said ‘yes,’ when all it meant was extra work for you and was seemingly helpful only to somebody else.”
“We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It’s easy to say ‘It’s not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.’ Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes.”
I think if we all believed this, the world would be a better place. We shouldn’t care only about our own people. We should care about seeing need and making the world a better place, regardless of it doesn’t affect us personally. We should care about kids still separated from their families at the border, because it is our responsibility.
“Everyone longs to be loved. And the greatest thing we can do is to let people know that they are loved and capable of loving.”
“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”
Mr. Rogers talked about scary things on Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. He wasn’t afraid to tackle hard stuff, because he knew kids knew something and needed to be reassured. The reality is we can’t hide the world from little kids, even if we want to, and we shouldn’t. We should help them process the way they can, and we should notice the people who are making it better. Good advice for adults, too. We can’t just hide from everything, as much as we want to do so.
“There are three ways to ultimate success:
The first way is to be kind.
The second way is to be kind.
The third way is to be kind.”
“You rarely have time for everything you want in this life, so you need to make choices. And hopefully your choices can come from a deep sense of who you are.”
I love this. It is so, so hard to realize you can’t be everything you want to be in this life. Every day we make choices, and hopefully our choices are to make the world a kinder, better place however we can with whatever abilities we can.
“Love isn’t a state of perfect caring. It is an active noun like struggle. To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is, right here and now.”
“The world needs a sense of worth, and it will achieve it only by its people feeling that they are worthwhile”
“When I say it’s you I like, I’m talking about that part of you that knows that life is far more than anything you can ever see or hear or touch. That deep part of you that allows you to stand for those things without which humankind cannot survive. Love that conquers hate, peace that rises triumphant over war, and justice that proves more powerful than greed.”
I don’t know about you, but I needed this reminder. It is worth fighting for a world where justice is more powerful than greed, because you are worth it and your life and your voice matter. Mr. Rogers says so.
What are your favorite Mister Rogers quotes?
